Disarmament
Reduction or withdrawal of military forces and weapons; republican presidents of 1920s tried to scale back expenditures on defense by making treaties regarding this
Washington conference 1921
Most successful disarmament conference and greatest achievement of Harding's presidency; secretary of state Charles Evans Hughes initiated talks on naval disarmament in hopes of stabilizing the size of the US Navy relative to that of other powers and to resolve conflicts in the Pacific; representatives came from Belgium, China, France, Britain, Italy, Japan, and the Netherlands; agreements reached were five power treaty, four power treaty, and nine power treaty
Five power (naval) treaty
Nations with five largest navies agreed to maintain the following ratio with respect to their largest warships (US, five; Great Britain, five; Japan, three; France, 1.67; Italy, 1.67) great Britain and the US also agreed not to fortify their possessions in the Pacific while no limit was placed on Japan
Nine power (China) treaty
All nations represented at the conference agreed to respect the open door policy by guaranteeing the territorial integrity of China
Kellogg Briand pact in 1928
Renounced the aggressive use of force to achieve national ends; proved ineffective because it permitted defense wars and failed to take action against violators of agreement
War debts
debt contracted by country in order to Carry On and pay for war; Europeans had a difficult time paying US these
Reparations
Compensation for war damage paid by a defeated state; treaty of Versailles required to Germany to pay 30 billion in regards to this to the allies
Dawes plan 1924
Established a cycle of payment flowing from the US to Germany and from Germany to the allies; US banks would lend Germany huge sums to rebuild its economy and pay reparations to Britain and France; intern Britain and France would use this money to pay war debts to the US
Pan-American conferences
Seventh one in Montevideo Uruguay in 1933; US pledged to never again intervene in the international affairs of Latin America; FDR reputed Roosevelt corollary; another one in Buenos Aires in 1936, FDR pledged to submit future disputes arbitration and warned if European powers attempted to commit acts of aggression against them it would find the western hemisphere to come together for mutual safety
Recognition of the Soviet union
FDR granted recognition to them in 1933 in hopes of increasing US trade and boosting the economy
Independence of the Philippines
FDR got Tydings McDuffie act passed in 1934 which got this place freedom in 1946 and the gradual removal of US military presence from the islands
Reciprocal trade agreements
FDR favored lower tariffs as a means of increasing international trade; 1934, Congress enacted plan suggested by secretary of state Cordell Hull that gave the president power to reduce US tariffs up to 50% for nations that reciprocated with comparable reduction for US imports
Japanese aggression in Manchuria
Early 1930s, Japan posed greatest threat to whirled peas; they defied the open door policy and the league of nations and marched to north eastern China in September 1931; renamed it territory Manchukuo and established puppet government; league of nations passed resolution condemning Japan in Japan left the league; league showed weak to maintain peace
Stimson doctrine
Secretary of state Henry Stimson declared in 1932 that the US would honor it's treaty obligations under nine power treaty by refusing to recognize any regime like Manchukuo that had been established by force
Axis powers
Japan Italy and Germany alliance signed in 1940
Benito Mussolini
Led Italy's fascist party; called II Duce (the Leader)
Fascist party
Italy's regime; attracted dissatisfied war vets, nationalist, and those who fear of communism; dressed in black shirts
Fascism
The idea that people Should Glorify their nation and their race through aggressive shows of force; became dominant ideology in European dictatorships in 1930s
Nazi party
German party; arose in 1920s in reaction to deplorable economic conditions after the war and the national resentment over treaty of Versailles
Adolf Hitler
Nazi leader; used bullying tactics against Jews and fascist ideology to increase popularity among unemployed Germans; seized opportunity presented by depression to play upon anti Semitic hatred; gained control of legislature in 1933 with brown shirt army
Spanish Civil War
1936; viewed in Europe and the US as ideological struggle between forces of fascism and republicanism (loyalists); FDR and most American sympathized with loyalist but cannot add them because of neutrality acts; in 1939, fascist prevailed and established military dictatorship
Francisco Franco
General who led fascists in Spanish Civil War
Ethiopia
Mussolini ordered Italian troops to invade here; league of nations and US objected but did nothing to stop Italian aggressor; Italy conquered after year of fighting (1935)
Rhineland
Region in western Germany that was supposed to be Demilitarized; Hitler defied treaty by ordering German troops here (1936)
Sudetenland
German name for strip of land in Czechoslovakia; Hitler insisted Germany had right to take it over because they spoke German
Munich
Where British Prime Minister (Neville Chamberlain) and French president (Edouard Daladier) and FDR met Mussolini and Hitler; at conference on September 1938, British and French leaders agreed to let Hitler take Sudetenland
Appeasement
Pacifying a country through negotiation to prevent war; became synonym of Munich after conference
Poland
September 1, 1939, German tanks and planes invaded here; Britain and France declared war against Germany; then axis powers got involved and World War II in Europe began
Blitzkrieg
Lightning war; overwhelming use of AirPower and fast moving tanks; Germany used this first on Poland
Gerald Nye
Senator from North Dakota; led investigating committee and concluded in 1934 that main reason for US participation in war was to serve the greed of bankers and arm manufacturers; influence isolationist legislature
Neutrality acts
Make sure US would stay out of wars in Europe; 1935: authorized the president prohibit all arms shipment and to forbid US citizens from travel on the ships of belligerents; 1936: forbid the extension of loans and credit to belligerents; 1937: forbid shipment of arms to opposing sides in Civil War in Spain
America first committee
Isolationists party formed in 1940 out of worry cause of FDR's pro British policies during World War II; mobilize American public opinion against war
Charles Lindbergh
Speaker of America first committee who travel the country warning against re-engaging in Europe's troubles
Isolationism
Policy of remaining apart from the affair/wars of other countries; Americans preached this in World War II and FDR countered by gradually giving aid to allies, especially Great Britain
Quarantine speech
FDR's speech stating Democracies act together to trap the aggressor (gave it when Japan invaded China in 1937) reactions to speech were negative
Cash and carry
1939 less restrictive neutrality act provided belligerent could buy US arms if it used its own ships and paid cash (favored Great Britain)
Selective training and service act
Provided the registration of all American men between the ages 21 and 25 and for training of 1.2 million troops in just one year
Destroyers for bases deal
September 1940, Britain was under constant assault by German bombing raids; German submarine attacks threatened great brain control of Atlantic; FDR arranged trade of 50 older but serviceable US destroyers and gave US right to build a military bases on British islands in the Caribbean
Third term (FDR)
FDR was nominated by democrats for four more years; campaign was "your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars"
Wendell Willkie
Lawyer and utility executive with magnetic personality; republican nominee for president; criticize new deal but agreed with FDR on preparedness and giving aid to Great Britain; lost to FDR
Four freedoms
Speech, religion, from want, from fear; FDR justified lending money to Britain by arguing US must help nations defend this
Lend lease act 1941
Permitting Great Britain to obtain all the US arms it needed on credit; majority passed this law
Atlantic charter
FDR and Churchhill drew up document off the coast of Newfoundland that affirmed the general principles for a sound peace after the war would include self determination for all people, no territorial expansion, and free trade
Pearl Harbor
Were US fleet in Pacific was anchored; on Sunday morning December 7, 1941, Japanese planes from aircraft carriers flew over and bombed all ships insight; lasted two hours and killed 2400 Americans, wounded 1200, sank or damaged 20 warships, and destroyed 150 airplanes
Good neighbor policy
US approach to foreign policy established in 1933 by FDR; primary goal was to ensure mutual friendly relations between the US and the nations of Latin America
War production board WPB
1942; established to manage war industries
Office of Price administration OPA
Federal agency that regulated almost every aspect of civilians lives by freezing prices, wages, and rent and by rationing meat, sugar, gas, and auto tires to fight war time inflation
Federal spending
How much money government uses; increased 1000% between 1939 and 1945; as a result, gross national product grew by 15% or more
Accumulated debt
Total debt after a period; reached the staggering figure of 250 billion after war, five times what it was in 1941
Business and industry
Started booming due to war time demand; war related industrial output was two times all of axis powers combined; tanks and fighter planes rolled off assembly lines; 300,000 planes, 100,000 tanks, and ships with capacity of 53,000,000 tons; Henry Kaiser's shipyard could make a new ship in 14 days; however smaller corporations lost out due to government only relying on bigger businesses
Research and development
Government worked closely with universities and research labs to create technologies to defeat the enemies; the office of this was established to contract scientist and universities to help in the development of electronics like radar and sonar, medicines (penicillin) and military goods like a jet engines and rockets
Manhattan project
Ran by office of research department; produced first atomic weapons
Office of war information
Control the news about troop movement and battles
The good war
What the unity of Americans behind the wars democratic ideals (the four freedoms) helped the generation remember World War II as
Wartime migration
Moved toward factories and military bases; helped to soften regional differences and open the eyes of many Americans to the injustice of racial discrimination
civil rights
Rights of citizens to political and social freedoms; leaders encouraged African-Americans to adopt double v
Double V
Victory over fascism abroad and the victory of equality at home
Executive order to prohibit discrimination
FDR administration issued this in government and in business that received federal contracts banning discriminatory practices as a result of black leaders threatening to march on Washington
Smith v allwright 1944
Supreme court ruled it was unconstitutional to deny membership in political parties to African-Americans as a way of excluding them from voting in primaries
Braceros
Mexican farmworkers; enter the US as temporary residents; not welcomed to stay permanently
Internment camps
Prison camp for confinement of POWs, enemy aliens, and political prisoners, etc. ; after Pearl Harbor in 1942, irrational fears that Japanese-Americans were spies or saboteurs and racism prompted US government to order more than 100,000 Japanese Americans on the west coast to leave home and go to these
Korematsu v US 1944
Supreme Court upheld government internment policy as justified in war time
Rosie the riveter
Song used to encourage women to take defense jobs; represented women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II
Wartime solidarity
New deal Helped immigrant groups feel more included and serving together as band of Brothers in combat or working together for a common cause in defense plants help to reduce prejudices based on nationality, ethnicity, and religion